So, reading through all of this, what I'm gathering is that you're adding a billion credit fee to something that was already free with a few more twists to it. I'm not sure how you keep stepping backwards, but I suppose when the staff are all chosen by the same people there's not much in the way of checks and balances either, especially when it comes to ideas that effectively make it so that I have to grind Gold Ore for three days straight just to add a news article with my name on it.
Is the old way of requesting going to stay open in light of this notice, or am I going to have to spend what free time I have grinding to make my digital denizens that much happier? If it's the latter, then all I can say is I'd literally rather have lootboxes, except there's nothing surprising about these mechanics.
EDIT: For clarification, I don't much care about the technicalities of it. Those are going to be crap, regardless of how much icing you put on it. I gathered what I needed from the OP here, so as far as I'm aware it's just another useless money sink.
EDIT-EDIT: *Needlessly expensive money sink.